SONG OF THE DAY: “LONDON CALLING” – THE CLASH (In Honor of Paul Cornell’s US Novel Release Day!)

So, I was lucky enough to get an advance review copy of Paul Cornell’s new urban fantasy novel, London Falling, the story of a group of cops who end up getting the power to see all the supernatural goings on in London. I’m about halfway through it, and will be reviewing it officially for NerdSpan, but my early review is…it’s awesome. Seriously. You all already know I’m huge fan of Cornell’s work, but this is the best thing of his I’ve ever read (and in case you doubt my objectivity, come find me and I’ll tell you what the not-so-great things are). If you’re curious about the novel and you live in the US, you are in luck! The UK has had the book since December (and if you’re in the UK and haven’t read it yet, what are you waiting for?!), but the book is released in the US TODAY! Hardback, e-book (DRM-free from Tor!), etc, etc. So pick up a copy this week! If you love urban fantasy, or just good stories that have fast-paced plots but are still very much character-driven and emotional, you won’t be disappointed. Promise.

And in honor of this book’s release, today’s Song of the Day is “London Calling” by The Clash. Enjoy!

*** DON’T FORGET THE POUND BY POUND PLEDGE DRIVE – RUNNING APR. 5TH 2013-APR. 5TH 2014 ***

“Not Into” It: Why No Relationship Is a Waste Of Time

Justin Long and Ginnifer Goodwin in “He’s Just Not That Into You”

So, I was chatting online with a friend last night, and we got on the topic of her current romantic situation. After giving her a bit of (what I think was some) sound advice (which is hilarious when you consider my own romantic history – it’s always easier to give advice than to take it), I finally came around to the big thing that was really bothering me, and I remembered that I’d written something for an old blog to that effect. So, I’m reprinting it below, because I still stand by every word. Please keep in mind that I wrote this in 2009 just before the film version of He’s Just Not That Into You came out. I’ve since seen the movie, and it’s pretty cute (and not nearly as annoying as the book). I’ve also since bought Kate Nash’s Made of Bricks, and I currently have a boyfriend, both of which are awesome.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Back in 2004, when Sex and the City was in its heyday and anything said to be like or inspired by it flew off the shelves, a book called He’s Just Not That Into You hit stores and became an instant smash.  (Not so coincidentally one of the book’s authors, Greg Behrendt, was a consultant on Sex and the City, and took inspiration from the episode “Pick-A-Little, Talk-A-Little”)  When the book came out, several of my friends told me about it, claiming that it was a book I had to read.  After much prodding, I finally picked it up at a bookstore and read the first chapter in the store’s cafe.

I hated it instantly.

Proponents of the book would probably say that it rubbed me the wrong way because it “touched a nerve”, “hit too close to home”, or “showed me a truth I didn’t want to acknowledge.”  But, um….no.  I didn’t have a problem with the advice not to continue pursuing or making excuses for a man who is not returning phone calls or asking you out when they’re clearly not interested.  That, I got.  Hell, I had given a lot of my guy friends the same advice!  I have male friends who have sent e-mails back and forth with a girl, the girl would continually find reasons not to go out, and they’d continue in pursuit convinced she was “playing hard to get”.  Eventually, I’d say “You know what?  If a girl is interested, she will go out with you.  I don’t care that she has work the next day.  I don’t care that her favorite TV show is on.  I don’t care that she has a paper to write.  She will make time.”

So, I agreed with the basic message.  It was something I knew without needing a book to teach it to me.  “Letting Someone Down Easy” with an excuse is something boys and girls learn in the beginning of their dating lives.  Yet there was something else about this book that upset me fundamentally.  There was something about this book that felt like nails on a chalkboard and made me want to punch cute kittens in the face.  When I heard that a movie version of the book was being released, all the old irrational anger resurfaced.  Why do I hate this book so much? I thought.  Why does the very thought of this movie being made make me want to start hitting things?

Now that the film release of He’s Just Not That Into You is upon us, I think I’ve put my finger on it:

I’m Just Not Into Marriage As the Be-All, End-All 

The underlying attitude of every piece of advice in this book is that if a relationship isn’t leading to marriage, it’s a waste of time.  And that’s what rubs me the wrong way.  Marriage has become the thing that women want almost at the expense of the person they’re marrying. So many women want the wedding so badly, they forget that there’s a person attached to the arm holding out the box with the ring in it.  Men become “marriage material.”  Think about it.  Marriage material – the stuff from which you can create a solid marriage.  Not a best friend, not an amazing lover, but material.  So not only does this book smack of faux-feminism – women should be chased and get the men they deserve because they’re worth it, but are still only as valuable as the men they can attract – but men are objectified, too.  People stop being people and start being commodities, and all the while women are told to stop spending time with men who “won’t commit,” (Commit to what?  To spending regular time together and having fun?) because they have to keep their eyes on the prize, and the prize is….marriage.

Why?

Behrendt would probably say it has to do with nature.  In response to women thinking about asking their crush out, he says “Some traditions are born of nature and last through time for a reason.”  I beg to differ.

Today’s norms and social mores having to do with courtship or marriage have nothing to do with nature and everything to do with economics.  Guys paying for dates to show they can provide for a woman?  Economics.  Men chasing women to assert that they are “hunters”?  Economics.  Women racing to get married by a certain time to ensure that they can have children?  Yes, even that has to do with economics.  Life will find a way, and the human race will reproduce one way or another…so, why is it so important that a woman be married to a child’s father?  Once human beings began creating villages, towns, cities, countries, civilizations, both an economic system and a patriarchal society developed. Having children became the way to ensure a family’s social and economic status.  Marrying a virgin of child-bearing age became a priority, because having a child with a virgin ensured that property would be passed down through a reliable lineage that no other man could lay claim to.  A woman getting married and having a child ensured that both she and her child would be well cared for.  Yet, feelings, desires, indeed anything that would constitute nature, weren’t serious considerations.  At best, love was icing on the economically-driven cake.

Now, let’s have a look at nature.  We always think of nature in terms of hunters and gatherers, and when we translate this to discuss human beings, we have the rigid view of men being the hunters and women being the gatherers.  What about lions?  Lionesses are the ones that go out and hunt and bring food back to the pride.  What about wolves?  Male and female wolves hunt side by side and either female or male subordinate wolves can stay behind to watch over cubs.  The same goes for primates, our closest relatives in the wild.  Then there’s the fact that in nature, it is the males who have colorful plumage and need to be attractive to the females as they wait for them to call.  (Explain to me why I need to put on make up and wear heels again?)

Marriage has nothing to do with nature.  Yet today, women kill themselves in pursuit of it and are made to feel like they are “wasting their time” if they don’t obtain it immediately.  Is a 10 year relationship in which the couple isn’t married, but lives together, sharing their lives (and possibly children), being there for each other day in and day out more of a waste of time than a two year marriage?  Is a solid, 2-year relationship that peters out naturally as the two people decide they don’t want to be together anymore a bigger waste of time than a 20-year marriage that was rushed into because a woman’s biological clock was ticking only for her to discover that she didn’t really want to share her life with this man at all?

Every relationship is valuable. Every relationship has something to offer and teach us, but we’ve come to spend so much time focusing on the end goal that we don’t see what’s right in front of us: an amazing friendship, companionship, wonderful sex, having someone to whom we are important, and vice-versa.  Whether it lasts a year, or fifty years; whether there’s a piece of paper saying that you are legally wed, or you spend those fifty years together simply because you never stopped wanting to, it’s a treasure.  Books like He’s Just Not That Into You have us goal-oriented to the point of our own detriment.

Books and films like this have also acted to sabotage women in pursuit of the very things they advocate.  Several guys I’ve begun relationships with end them, because they’re not in the “headspace” to date seriously and they don’t want to “waste my time.”  I call this “Pre-Emptive Commitment Phobia.”  They’re so afraid that a woman will be upset at them for not wanting to commit to a “serious” relationship, that they end it before it has a chance to begin.  Meanwhile, I don’t care about ending up together forever!  I was perfectly willing to just spend time together for a while, get to know each other, and have some fun.  And this isn’t just limited to heterosexual couples!  I have gay and lesbian friends who have had the same pre-emptive commitment phobia affect their relationships, and they can’t even legally marry everywhere!  Now, we’re deprived of companionship because a couple of stupid books and films have society convinced that everyone, deep-down, wants each relationship to be the relationship that leads to marriage, and that anything else is failure.  They don’t, and it isn’t.

I’m Just Not Into the Never-Ending Economic Cycle 

The ultimate proof that marriage has more to do with economics than nature is the fact that a book like He’s Just Not That Into You even exists.  I never feel as lonely, or as bad about being single as I do when I’m in a group of people talking about relationships.  As I go about my day to day life, I’m not agonizing over the boyfriend I don’t have, or the kids I’d better think about popping out soon.  I’m thinking about my life.  Now.

Then, I get together with a group of friends and we start spouting the very things found in these books or films, and suddenly I’m neurotic about what I should be wanting.  Is there something wrong with me?  Maybe I DO need to hurry up and find someone!  Maybe I SHOULDN’T be wasting my time.  Maybe I need to take this more SERIOUSLY.  Suddenly, there is unhappiness and agitation where there wasn’t any before.  Suddenly, I’m neurotic.  Not because I feel lonely or lacking, but because I’m freaked out by other people being so worried about me and my future.  Surely, there must be something to it. Otherwise people wouldn’t be saying all this!

Yet, all there is to it is books and films like these.  Books and films that showcase a single path toward happiness, make people feel inadequate if they aren’t on that path, and offer methods of “self-help” in order to help them get on it.  Methods one has to buy.

BOOKS LIKE THESE MAKE PEOPLE NEED BOOKS LIKE THESE!

Not to mention the fact that the wedding industry is a huge racket even people on a modest budget feel compelled to take part in.  When women hear that a female friend of theirs has gotten engaged, we’re trained to ask “Let me see the ring!” first.  As if the ring’s size or stone were the true determinants of whether or not this guy and this wedding is a good idea.  Even the least expensive bridal gowns cost several hundred dollars.  Whether you rent a venue, or have your wedding in your backyard, there are still catering, flowers, photographs, and music to be considered.  That’s without factoring in a bridal party, for whom things need to be purchased.  The wedding business is a multi-billion dollar industry.  I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised that society fights so hard to make weddings important.  A lot of people would be unemployed if they weren’t.  There would also be significantly fewer books sold.

Believe It Or Not, I AM Into Marriage

I think it might be time to reconsider exactly what marriage means.

I’ll save my feelings about gay marriage, polygyny, and polyandry for another time (though my thinking about and mentioning them at all should give you an indication of how I feel about them), but we have a 50% divorce rate these days for a reason.  I think a large part of it is that we live at a time when we’ve learned to be truer to our individual selves.  We’ve come to expect a certain level of personal happiness in addition to wanting to care for the greater good.  However, we bring that desire for personal happiness into a firmly-established institution that is primarily concerned with economics.  Is it any wonder, then, that money is the largest cause of discord in most marriages?  Fights over who paid for what, who is providing for whom?  People are taught to marry by a certain time and are taught to take finances into consideration, but they aren’t taught that it’s acceptable to wait until you find someone who truly makes you happy.  Marriage as it is now is about contributing to society, not about two people connecting to each other.  It’s about what you should want, and not about what you might actually want.  If people actually do connect, they’re lucky.

Despite all that, I would like to be married someday.  There are several couples in my life that make marriage look good and whose marriages, if I ever find someone I want to marry, I’d want to emulate. There is something beautiful to me about choosing someone forever, promising them that you will be there for them no matter what, and knowing that they offer you the same in return.  I understand the impulse not only to want to make that promise to each other, but share the power of that promise with your loved ones.  I’m not someone who is sour on the entire institution.  I just think that the institution should evolve as much as human beings have.

I want marriage, but I don’t need marriage.  There’s a difference.

So, I won’t be seeing He’s Just Not That Into You.  I never bought (or bought into) the book, and I don’t want to be disappointed by the sight of actresses I enjoy and respect enacting that tripe.  It’s a shame, then, that one of my favorite songs of the moment is Beyonce’s Single Ladies:

If you liked it, then you should’ve put a ring on it

If you liked it then you should’ve put a ring on it….

DAMMIT, that song is catchy!  Ah well.  I downloaded it illegally, so I didn’t pay money for it.  Sorry, Beyonce.  If you want to pay for a great song that has a truly positive message about relationships, check out Kate Nash’s Merry Happy:

Chatting on the phone

can’t take back those hours

but I won’t regret

’cause you can grow flowers

from where dirt used to be

And more importantly:
 

I can be alone, yeah

I can watch a sunset on my own

I can be alone, yeah

I can watch a sunset on my own

I can be alone…

Her album, I plan on buying.

The International Bank of Bob is Here!

Me and my autographed copy of The International Bank of Bob

It’s crazy to think about, but I’ve been a part of Team Bob along for the ride in the process of creating The International Bank of Bob, which is out TODAY (from Walker/Bloomsbury), since late 2010, when my really awesome boss, Bob Harris, was starting to go on his first trips to do research for the book and I started work as his assistant. As photos and story snippets started coming through to me, I knew that this book was going to be something special. Just the notes on the book and the photos I got in my email inbox made me giddy with wanderlust (I love travel, and don’t get to do it nearly as much as I’d like) and excited not only about the possibilities for doing good in the world, but it also reaffirmed that there are people in the world who want to change the world for the better. It can all seem like too much sometimes, but when you think about groups like Kiva and the microfinance institutions they support giving people, no matter what their socioeconomic situation, the chance to support their families and create the lives they want by starting businesses that not only allow them to do something they enjoy, but something that their communities need, it’s hard not to be hopeful.

Two years later, the book is actually a thing, and it’s so exciting to finally read the completed, finished book after years of reading drafts of chapters. The physical book itself is gorgeous (I’m in love with that cover, and if you’ve seen the cover photo on my personal Facebook page, you know I love sunflowers), and the story is a wonderful one. This book takes you all over the world and makes you laugh, makes you think, and makes you hope. But more importantly, it’ll make you act. It’ll make you want to check out Kiva.org. And if not that, it’ll make you think about what you want to do to change the world. More than a travel memoir or a report of Kiva’s activities around the world, it’s a handbook for global citizenship.

I’m so proud to have been a teensy part of The International Bank of Bob. And I highly recommend that each and every one of you reading this snag a copy. It’s an amazing thing.

BTW – It occurred to me rightthissecond as I was writing this that I hadn’t thought to look in the Acknowledgements section to see if I was mentioned. So, I just looked, and I am. And it’s a really sweet mention. Thanks, Bob!

My Boss Is Cooler Than Your Boss

THE INTERNATIONAL BANK OF BOB, coming March 2013

Why, you ask? Because he’s in the NEW YORK TIMES today. It’s a profile all about him and his work, including his upcoming book, The International Bank of Bob: Connecting Our Worlds One $25 Kiva Loan At a Time, in which he tells the story of how he went from fancy-pants travel writer to funder of thousands of Kiva microloans and leader of one of Kiva’s largest lending teams, as well as how he followed the money, visiting countries where he’d made his loans on just about every continent in order to find out exactly how microfinance is helping everyday people and their small businesses all over the world.

I’ve been reading the chapters as they’ve been written, and it’s a really awesome read – part memoir, part travelogue, and part resource on how you can make a difference in the world one small business owner at a time. You should definitely check it out when it comes out.

And I swear I’d say that even if he weren’t paying me.

Anyway, check out the article at the NYTimes, and now that the holidays are about to roll around, use the time to think about how you can give more of yourself and change the world for the better. Not the whole world, just your favorite little corner of it. If everybody did that, BOOM, better world.

And definitely check out KIVA. I’ve been a lender for a couple of years, and it’s pretty cool to see that money I lent years ago continues to help people today. Pretty awesome.

TERESA’S BOOKSHELF: Mockingjay and Wild Nights!: Stories About the Last Days of Poe, Dickinson, Twain, James, and Hemingway

Welcome back to Teresa’s Bookshelf! It’s been a while since this has been a regular feature. But just because I haven’t been writing about it doesn’t mean I haven’t been reading. At the end of my last post, I mentioned that “up next” on The Bookshelf was Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins, and that I was “currently reading” Wild Nights!: Stories About the Last Days of Poe, Dickinson, Twain, James, and Hemingway by Joyce Carol Oates. I’ve read those SO long ago that I couldn’t do a proper review at this point. However, here’s the short version of what I thought of those books, just in case anyone’s keeping track.

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins – I thought this was a harrowing, inevitable, and completely appropriate ending to The Hunger Games trilogy. What impressed me most about the entire series, culminating in this book, is that Collins never gives her characters what’s easy or palatable. Everything Katniss goes through is eerily close to how something like her situation might play out in real life, warts and all. The deaths and injuries that occur are not merely for shock value, but are integral to the kind of story this is, and deeply meaningful to Katniss. I love that Mockingjay doesn’t give Katniss a happy ending or a sad ending. Or an ending at all. It gives her a new chapter as an adult, a clean slate, to do with as she pleases.

Wild Nights!: Stories About the Last Days of Poe, Dickinson, Twain, James, and Hemingway by Joyce Carol Oates – To be completely honest, I prefer Joyce Carol Oates the short story author to Joyce Carol Oates the novelist. I’ve only read two of her many novels, and while I enjoyed them intellectually, for their craft, I didn’t enjoy them in that soft squishy place in my heart where books are beloved. Whenever I read her short stories, however, be they in The New Yorker, or in a collection, they always make me feel something. Wild Nights! is not only some of her best short work, but it’s one of my favorite short story collections of all time. Each story shows us each author in a completely honest (albeit fictional) way. They are none of them canonized or demonized. Oates is wonderful at wearing these writers’ voices and showing us the good and the bad, making us feel for the characters she’s created. I think that if any of these writers were still alive, they would choose these stories as their eulogies for themselves! Wild Nights! also contains one of my favorite sci-fi stories ever, “EDickinsonRepliluxe,” which tells the story of Emily Dickinson as A.I. years in the future; a future where people can have cylon-like dead celebrities live with them in their own homes. I don’t usually read books more than once – why reread things when there are so many other books I haven’t read yet? – but this one will be getting a reread in a couple of years. The stories are that good.

Well, that’s it for now! I’ll be playing catch-up with my reviews for a while, but from the next Bookshelf post on, each will be getting its own review. Hopefully, you’ll encounter a title that interests you and give it a read yourself! I hope so. And if you do, do me a favor and buy a copy from an indie bookstore, won’t you? Support your local bookshops. They need you.

Next on Teresa’s Bookshelf: Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer

Currently Reading: Embassytown by China Miéville and Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susannah Clarke

Tor Post: Symbolism in The Hunger Games

Eek! The Hunger Games movie is fast upon us! In about eight hours, I’ll be on my way to the movie theater for a midnight showing! Can’t wait!

Over at Tor.com, I wrote a post as part of their Hunger Games coverage talking about symbolism and its importance to political movements. It’s called Symbols in The Hunger Games: Katniss, the Mockingjay, and Humanity At Its Best.

Excerpt:

When I sat down to write about the Mockingjay symbol used in The Hunger Games trilogy, both the pin and Katniss Everdeen herself, the first thing I thought of was child soldiers and the Kony 2012 campaign.

Bear with me.

One of the criticisms I’ve heard about the Kony 2012 campaign (or rather about Invisible Children, the organization that started it aside) was that it was too slick: the video made too big an issue of finding Joseph Kony and oversimplified the many issues involved in the problem of child soldiers in Africa. Kony is not the only problem (or rather, he’s only part of the problem). This is very true.

Yet the Kony 2012 video went viral and spread in a way that years of news coverage, books, and the work of other organizations didn’t. It is precisely because Kony was used as a simple but potent idea and image that people were inspired to act in a way that simply appealing to their altruism and sense of decency just couldn’t. If a problem seems too large and complicated to solve, it becomes white noise.

In Panem, Katniss Everdeen focused the noise and broke through the static.

To read the complete post, as well as to comment, CLICK HERE.

In other Hunger Games-related news, if you haven’t yet listened to the soundtrack for the film, The Hunger Games: Songs From District 12 and Beyond, you really should. It really captures the feel of the books (I can only imagine the film as well), and is on par with the soundtrack to O Brother, Where Art Thou?, which makes sense as both were executive produced by legendary country producer, T Bone Burnett. In any case, I’m about to interview another producer on Songs From District 12, the only producer on the album other than T Bone, producing great Greg Wells. He not only produced on this album, but has amassed a jillion credits writing and producing for artists as diverse as Adele, Katy Perry, Celine Dion, OneRepublic and Timbaland, Colbie Caillat, and more! Expect to see that interview on PopMatters.com and ChinaShop Magazine soon!

TERESA’S BOOKSHELF: Fables Vol. 3 – Storybook Love

When I read Volumes 1 and 2 of Bill Willingham and Mark Buckingham’s Fables, I fell in love. I loved this irreverent, modern look at classic fairy tales. I also loved the idea of the fables that live on The Farm are at odds with the fables who can pass for “mundys” in the city. Such an interesting idea! Rose Red is a great character, and watching her go from Snow White’s bratty little sister to caretaker of the Farm was an interesting journey. And Goldilocks as a lefty political agitator? Awesome.

After I read Volume 2, I picked up Volume 3: Storybook Love immediately with the full intention of reading it. Then life got in the way, as did other books and comics. It sat on my “to be read” shelf for over a year…

And in that time, I grew annoyed with the trend of “retelling” fairy tales. From Gregory Maguire books (and the Broadway musicals based on them), to Alan Moore’s Lost Girls, to just about every SyFy movie (Red, Tin Man, Alice in Wonderland…), the constant barrage of retellings was getting on my nerves. Where are OUR fairy tales? I wondered. What happened to people inventing new characters and making up stories about THEM?!

And I think this weariness of fairy tale retellings affected my reading of Storybook Love. I found myself rolling my eyes at everything, because despite several interesting things happening with the characters, I couldn’t ignore the fact that I was simply tired of this kind of story. My reaction wasn’t helped by a story that too often focused characters I never gave a crap about in the first place.

Storybook Love is divided into two parts, the first of which focuses on Bigby (ie: Big Bad Wolf, who is also the sheriff) leading an effort against a mundy (regular human) reporter who threatens to expose the fables as…vampires. (Yet another trend that’s long overstayed its welcome) The second part focuses on Bluebeard’s attempt to assassinate Snow White (deputy mayor of Fabletown) and Bigby by sending them into the woods under a spell, and sending Goldilocks after them with a gun. The first story, “A Sharp Operation,” fell flat for me. It was too clever for its own good, from the reporter thinking these immortal fables vampires, to using Briar Rose’s sleep enchantment to break into a building. Despite the supposed gravity of their situation, it all seemed so…cute.

The second half of the volume, the titular “Storybook Love,” was better, as Snow White and Bigby got closer as they fled for their lives. Goldilocks continues to be an intriguing character, and Snow and Bigby do have great chemistry. The twist with them at the end also makes me curious enough to continue the series. However, so much time was spent on Bluebeard and Prince Charming, two of the least interesting characters in the whole thing, that I found myself getting bored every time they appeared. Prince Charming’s desire for power means nothing to me, because I don’t care about him. And the attempt to “humanize” Bluebeard by making him upset about being a coward seemed forced.

The best part of the volume are the two one-offs that bookend the story arcs. The first issue, a one-off about Jack Horner (of Beanstalk fame) called “Bag O’ Bones,” is loosely based on the American “Mountain Jack” folktales, and tells the story of how Jack comes across a beautiful dying woman, captures death just so she can stay alive and he can have sex with her, then realizes that maybe a world where nothing dies isn’t the best idea ever. This issue is a perfect combination of humor and gravity, and I think what I liked most about it is that there was no discussion about Jack’s origins or references to beanstalks. He was just an unthinking trickster in an odd situation.The last issue in the volume, “Barleycorn Brides,” is cute in a good way, telling the story of how the tradition among young Lilliputian men to steal magic barleycorns came to be. It is both a rare glimpse of Bigby being charming and warm, and a fun story.

Overall, what bothers me about Fables sometimes, and what bothers me in general about the trend of retelling fairy tales is that there’s only so many times you can be self-referential. How many cute references to mirrors and apples can Snow White make? How often can Briar Rose mention her aversion to needles? It’s so rare that, in stories like this, the characters get to be characters in their own right in a new story without constantly referring back to the original source material. Fables gets it right a lot of the time, which makes it particularly disheartening when it gets it wrong.

Next on Teresa’s Bookshelf: Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

Currently Reading: Wild Nights! by Joyce Carol Oates

TERESA’S BOOKSHELF: Great House by Nicole Krauss

There’s something about Nicole Krauss that, while I like her work, bothers me.

I’ve enjoyed Nicole Krauss’ writing ever since I read her first novel, Man Walks Into A Room. I was fascinated by her insights into memory loss and what that does to a relationship, because I’d seen what Alzheimer’s Disease had done to my family at the time, and while her novel was about memory loss of a different sort, many of the repercussions were the same. I loved that book, and immediately fantasized about being the one allowed to adapt it into a screenplay.

I enjoyed her second novel, A History of Love, too. But this story had less of an impact on me because of the voice and style she chose to tell it. Perhaps it was because I was used to her husband Jonathan Safran Foer’s style, and it seemed very much like him (making the reading experience visual by using things like lists and charts as part of the narrative, etc), but I felt like she was doing a ventriloquist act. While I enjoyed the characters (particularly the brother, who I thought was underused), and appreciated the story she was trying to tell, it didn’t feel like a natural progression from Man Walks Into a Room, nor did it sound like her voice from what I’d gathered from short stories of hers I’d read.

So, I recently picked up her latest novel, Great House, because I respect her talent as a writer, and was hoping that this book would be more her own. Great House tells the stories of three groups of people that are all connected by an old desk. Once again, Krauss is adept at capturing certain emotional situations – getting older, memory loss, life as a writer – with precision and elegance. There were passages where I recognized myself in what she was describing so much that I had to put the book down, because my heart was racing. The problem I have with this book, though, is that it’s told from the point of view of three different characters, but they all pretty much sound the same, and they all sound “literary.” Rather than have distinct voices with the distinct cadences that come with being at different stages in life, or different education levels, they all sound the same level of poetic and have the same self-awareness.

What’s strange is that, looking back, her first novel was probably really rough. But it also seemed to be a book that wasn’t trying so hard. It was telling an interesting story in an insightful way with characters I cared about, and I loved it. It seems, though, that once that book did so well, her subsequent novels seem to be trying so hard to be art that they forget to be stories. In A History of Love, all the characters are bound together by a manuscript they have in common. In Great House, there’s the desk. She seems to be settling into a formula where story doesn’t matter (There’ll be this central thing that unites the characters, which will allow me to tell the story Magnolia-style, being really insightful about characters and emotions, but not having anything actually happen except that someone, you know, ends up with this thing). Which is interesting, considering that Man Walks Into a Room told a story that was also insightful, and her short story, “Future Emergencies”, managed to tell a story that was bigger than her characters – it was about the post-9/11 world.

Thing is, I really do love Nicole Krauss’ writing. I just wish she put it to better use. I wish she would get out of her comfort zone a little more and risk sounding a little less polished. I’ll probably pick up her next novel, too, but if it’s about a disparate group of people bound together by a central object, I quit.

Next on Teresa’s Bookshelf: Fables Vol. 3: Storybook Love by Bill Willingham, art by Mark Buckingham

Currently Reading: Wild Nights! by Joyce Carol Oates, and Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

Teresa’s Bookshelf: Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

I have been preaching the gospel of The Hunger Games since I started reading the series recently, recommending it to everyone I know (even one person I didn’t know!). Catching Fire is the second book in the Hunger Games trilogy, and I bought it while I was still reading the first book, because I knew I’d want it immediately. However, after The Hunger Games, I read My Sister’s Keeper first, because I didn’t want to rush the series. Now, I’m down to one book left, and I already miss it. It’s been a long while since a book has affected me like this.

Catching Fire focuses on Katniss Everdeen’s post-Hunger Games life, and the changing political climate in Panem. The “catching fire” of the title refers to Katniss having been a spark for revolution in the first book, and the idea for revolution now spreading like a brush fire across the country. Catching Fire was a slower, but more thoughtful read than the first. Whereas The Hunger Games sped along, because there was suspense in whether or not Katniss and her friends/family would survive, Catching Fire was more about exploring ideas and fleshing out relationships. It also raised the political stakes, and forces you to ask yourself what you would do in Katniss’ place. Would you stand up against oppression, or would you keep your head down and worry only about your own survival? The answers aren’t simple, and Katniss isn’t a cookie-cutter heroine who is a paragon of activism. She’s a strong girl, but she is also scared and more experienced with taking care of herself than she is with worrying about the larger picture. She is learning to think beyond day-to-day survivial to the kind of world she’d like to grow old in and raise children in.

I also love what Collins has done with Peeta, who matches Katniss in complexity. Honestly, I don’t understand the appeal with Gale. I sort of imagine him as Katniss’ Jordan Catalano – like, yeah he looks great leaning up against a locker…but he can’t read, you know? Granted, he’s a bit more than that, and they’ve been best friends forever, but still.  I’m Team Peeta.

There are also some wonderful new characters in this book. Finnick Odair and Johanna Mason are both deceptively shallow at first, but stick with them. They are intriguing additions to the world of the Hunger Games.

The world of this trilogy gets more complex and mature in this book, and the slow simmer of most of the book gives way to a huge boil at the end when the stakes are raised even higher for everyone.

Collins has amazed me once again with Catching Fire, and I can’t get Panem and its inhabitants out of my head. I’ll be reading another book before reading the final installment, Mockingjay, because I’m just not ready for this story to end!

Currently Reading: Great House by Nicole Krauss

Teresa’s Bookshelf: My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult

This is me caught up, and I’m back to the original Teresa’s Bookshelf format: one book per post! Let’s see if we can’t keep it this way!

I’ve had this book on my shelf for several years. It was one of those things where when it came out, the book was really popular and everyone was talking about it so I picked it up with every intention of reading it only to have it get lost on my To Be Read bookshelves. After a healthy diet of sci-fi/fantasy-related stuff (and a token “chick lit” book for good measure), I decided I needed to get back to some good ol’, normal contemporary fiction.

Leave it to me to choose the contemporary novel off my shelf that is science fiction in the truest sense – fiction that incorporates current scientific advancements.

I was fascinated by the topic brought up in My Sister’s Keeper: do parents have the right to concieve a child in a test tube for the sole purpose of being a tissue match for a sick child they already have? And if so, do they have the right to continue to expect that the new child continue to donate organs and marrow and platelets without being asked? Does the child have the right to say no if it means the death of their sick sibling? Anna, the 13 year old protagonist of the book (the “designer baby”conceived to be a match for her sister, Kate, who has a rare form of leukemia), thinks that she should, and so she goes to a lawyer and sues her parents for medical emancipation.

Jodi Picoult does an amazing job of examining all sides of this issue by skillfully creating her cast of characters. She allows each character to narrate different chapters in the novel, and each has a distinct, lived-in voice. From 13-year-old Anna, to her mother Sara (40s), to her sarcastic lawyer Campbell, to her older brother Jesse, Picoult pulls off a hell of a ventriloquist act as she careens her characters through a desperate chain of events in which Kate’s life and Anna’s freedom hang in the balance.

In addition to the strength of the characters, Picoult brings the events of the book to a logical conclusion without it being at all predictable. In fact, the ending of the book slapped me in the face! I didn’t see it coming in quite the way it did. Yet, when it happened, I realized that it couldn’t have happened any other way.

My Sister’s Keeper is a book that had me crying as I read the ending on the subway, and had me thinking about it long after I put it down. If you’re looking for a book that will make you examine your own moral and ethical compass as well as make you feel deeply for the characters involved, I’d highly recommend this one.

Currently Reading: Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins